RONGOTAI College, Wellington 1939

RONGOTAI is a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, located southeast of the city centre. It is on the Rongotai isthmus, between the Miramar Peninsula and the suburbs of Kilbirnie and Lyall Bay. It is known mostly for being the location of the Wellington International Airport

The college is an all-boys state secondary school.
The students are aged 12 to 19.
It was opened in 1928 with Mr Fritz Martyn RENNER as its first headmaster and a teaching staff of seven. It was started as an "overspill" for Wellington College, which was overstretched, and Rongotai became the new school for Wellington boys in the eastern suburbs.

Rongotai College originally accepted enrolments from students of intermediate school age. However, when Evans Bay Intermediate School opened its doors in 1964, the school became purely a secondary school, catering for young men in what are now called years 9 to 13.

The Assembly Hall, known as the Renner Hall, was opened in 1968 and is named after the founding headmaster.

... There were five finalists in each section of the oratory contest recently held at Rongotai College, and the speeches were judged by Dr. W. B. SUTCH. He recommended all boys to grasp the opportunities aforded to them at college to take part in debates and prepared speeches. That would encourage them to think about and form their own opinions on important questions of the day, he said. Education in democracy through such methods was one of the first esentials in preserving democratic liberties of free speech, freedom of opinion, and tolerance

The judge, in placing G. J. TEWARD first in the junior section, and L. D. CONSTABLE first in the seniors, complimented all speakers on the high standard of enunciation, delivery, and conviction. The speeches gave evidence of careful preparation and some research. They gripped their audience, and the judge admitted that in reaching his decision he took notice of the extent to which the audience was interested